Anything "Duochrome" or "Chameleon" can also be found using the tag "Color Shifting"

Updates & Notices

This blog and some info within is out of date, with the occasional exception of the Chameleon Pigment Suppliers list, but it stands as is for reference. The date of any updates are noted at the top of each page/entry.

Sunday, December 31, 2017

Today is the 31st of December and the last day of 2017- the blog survived another year. If you don't know, it's been around now for 7 years and 3 months and in that time I gained 602 followers! I've lost a few here and there but if you're still with me, even once in a while, THANK YOU! Without you, I'd just be talking to myself.

Life just keeps coming and keeps you busy. I still dabble with polish and buy the color shifting pigments when they come out but it the hobby is far less interesting to me today and I have less to contribute. Just about anything you need to start and maintain the hobby, including the "research" are widely available now and easy to find, not so when I started out. But I can still recall the joy and amazement from mixing that first simple bottle of clear polish + pigment and I hope it is something you still experience.

May your 2018 be more sparkly and colorful than this year.
Happy New Years. -M

Monday, October 16, 2017

Although cats are not the same topic as this blog, many of my readers seem to also be cat lovers so I'm going to share my new Facebook page, Tri-State Adoptable Cats, in the hopes I'll reach a broader audience (beyond those on my "friends" list). Allow me to explain, if you're still here.

I've had cats since 2010, six at this moment, with one that passed away a couple years ago. Of those cats, four were strays, two came from a local animal shelter and one from a rescue- so you can see that I too am a cat lover and equal-opportunity adopter.

Starting in 2015, I began sharing the profiles of adoptable cats on my personal Facebook page daily. These cats were within the Northern Kentucky-Ohio area, from local rescues and shelters mostly and that list grew to include over 20 agencies; I'm afraid those on my friends list probably got tired of the daily influx and stopped following. With that in mind, I created Tri-State Adoptable Cats on Facebook, this way I can continue to feature the cats daily but not annoy those who wish not to see them.

If you're one of those people that like to see cute adoptable cats and kittens and you live in the Northern Kentucky-Southern Ohio area- or know someone who does- stop by. I'd love to "see" you there!
-MK

Saturday, October 7, 2017

"Unicorn Pee" is apparently all the rage these days, right? I'm here to tell you that Glitter Unique, one of my FAV suppliers, has a newer line of color shifting goodies called Unicorn Pigments and #8 is supposed to look a LOT like the infamous Unicorn Pee.

There are currently 9 colors and they sell for $11.50 a gram, 2 grams - $22.50, 1/4 oz (7.08 grams)- $77.00.

Since this post and my efforts are centered around matching the
others to Didspade’s, let’s review the selection. Right now, they sell 11 different Supershifts: Invictus, Elixir, Solis, Vibe, Lithium, Dorado, Zionic, Wildfire, Nitron, Ametrine and Atlas. When they were first released,
the Supershifts were being sold at a special price for just 1 gram so I bought the
first nine; Ametrine and Atlas came out almost a year later and only at the normal price so
they are two I don’t have. Not that I didn’t want them but I don’t need 5 grams… and that brings us to Glitter
Unique and Spectraflair4u.

Both Glitter UniqueandSpectraflair4u sell UCC pigments under a slightly different name,
Ultra Chameleon Chrome and Ultra Chrome Chameleon respectively, but [most of] the
color names/descriptions and pictures don’t match each other, let alone match
up to Didspade’s. I spent two weeks putting their speed shapes and car photos up
against store photos of nails and polish bottles, even using my own nail pics of
Didspade’s pigments. The goal was to add to color spectrum without buying
duplicate colors and I was partly successful.

At the bottom of this post are my conclusions which, if interested, you can check out but I'm going to move on to the individual pictures and comparisons.

Glitter Unique Emerald/Blue/Gold

Glitter Unique Copper/Gold/Green

Spectraflair4u #4 Red/Copper/Green/Cyan

Spectraflair4u #8 Blue/Purple/Copper/Green

No, that's not your imagination, Sf4u's Red/Copper/Green/Cyan, the one I thought might be a match for Didspade's Ametrine, is nearly identical to GU's Copper/Gold/Green.

Here they are side by side again and from another angle. In both, Copper/Gold/Green is on the left, Red/Copper/Green/Cyan on the right. Sorry, I have six cats, random hairs end up everywhere.

Based on the store pictures alone, I didn't think they looked much alike. Here's how they stack up against Didspade's Wildfire and Zionic, captured in three shots to show the changing angle.

L-R: Wildfire, Copper/Gold/Green, Red/Copper/Green/Cyan, Zionic.

So technically they aren't duplicates and they do fill out the color spectrum somewhat.

Glitter Unique's Emerald/Blue/Gold very well could be a match to Didspade's Atlas and it too compliments the others nicely. Here Emerald/Blue/Gold is shown next to Didspade's Dorado and Lithium.

Spectraflair4u's #8 Blue/Purple/Copper/Green, perhaps unsurprisingly, fits right in with the five Supershifts Invictus, Elixir, Solis, Vibe and Nitron. The color shift is so close it's hard for me to decide where it would come in the color order but Blue/Purple/Copper/Green is most similar to Elixir.

That's all my pictures. I'm satisfied, enough, that I've rounded out the spectrum from the choices available. My next project will be attempting to create something new from the existing ones.The best color order I could put them in is:WildfireZionicSf4u Red/Copper/Green/CyanGU Copper/Gold/GreenDoradoLithiumGU Emerald/Blue/GoldInvictusElixirSf4u Blue/Purple/Copper/GreenVibeSolisNitron

Now if you're still with me by this point, below are the pigments available from Glitter Unique and Spectraflair4u- and how they might match up to Didspade's. I'd read on someone else's blog (and someone else's comment) that there were color matches between the companies so I tried to match them up.

-Atlas may match up to: GU’s Emerald/Blue/Gold. I bought this one
and it seems likely to match. Sf4u doesn’t
have a likely match.

-Ametrine may match up to: Sf4u’s #4 RCGC (Red/Copper/Green/Cyan) or
#5 WRCG (Wine Red/Copper/Gold). I guessed and bought #4, still not sure if I
was right. GUdoesn’t have a likely match.

Leaving these un-matched:

GU’s Copper/Gold/Green: I bought it. It doesn’t match a Supershift,
and doesn’t appear to match any Spectraflair4u pigment exactly.

Sf4u’s #8 BPCG (Blue/Purple/Copper/Green): I bought it. It is in
the same color range as Didspade’s Invictus, Elixir, Solis, Vibe and Nitron but
doesn’t match exactly. Based on pictures, it doesn’t appear to match up to any
of Glitter Unique’s pigments.

Friday, May 19, 2017

It probably looks like all I do lately is buy Glitter Unique products and I do have a lot, but with these color shifting pigments I'm not sure when I bought them. I had 5 from last year, not enough to do a full blog entry on and then I found 4 more in my stash recently- which is still only 9 out of 23 that are available. I've listed all 23 below, with the price for the teaspoon sample and 1/2 oz but they can also be purchased as a full oz. Particle size, when available, is also included.

I have and will be showing you: Red/Gold, Red/Orange/Yellow, Green/Blue/Purple, Red/Violet/Blue, Green/Blue/Purple/Pink, Blue/Pink/Gold, Blue/Violet/Red/Orange, Violet-Blue/Red/Orange-Yellow and Violet/Gold.

Here they are in a group but not the best photo. From left to right: Red/Violet/Blue, Green/Blue/Purple, Red/Orange/Yellow, Violet-Blue/Red/Orange-Yellow, Blue/Violet/Red/Orange, Blue/Pink/Gold, Green/Blue/Purple/Pink, Red/Gold and Violet/Gold

First in random order...

Red/Violet/Blue and Green/Blue/Purple

Green/Blue/Purple again with Red/Orange/Yellow & Violet-Blue/Red/Orange-Yellow

Red/Orange/Yellow & Violet-Blue/Red/Orange-Yellow again with Blue/Violet/Red/Orange

Blue/Violet/Red/Orange again with Blue/Pink/Gold & Green/Blue/Purple/Pink

Red/Gold & Violet/Gold

And now more in order of color (and not the same photos)...

Red/Violet/Blue, Blue/Pink/Gold

Green/Blue/Purple/Pink, Green/Blue/Purple

Violet-Blue/Red/Orange-Yellow, Blue/Violet/Red/Orange

Blue/Violet/Red/Orange again with Red/Orange/Yellow

Red/Gold & Violet/Gold

And finally the individual photos, two for each. Note: the blue reflection on the lower side of the nail in each of the 1st photos is from my shirt, not the color of the pigment itself.

Red/Gold

Red/Orange/Yellow

Green/Blue/Purple

Red/Violet/Blue

Green/Blue/Purple/Pink

Blue/Pink/Gold

Blue/Violet/Red/Orange

Violet-Blue/Red/Orange-Yellow

Violet/Gold

Some of these match up to, or fit in nicely with my chameleon pigments from Spectraflair4u but that's an entry for another day. The "stand-alone" pigment, that is the one that doesn't have a dupe or close cousin from another company is Green/Blue/Purple and that remains my favorite. -MK